Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged Chartered Accountant community to work hard and make a place for atleast four Indian companies to get listed amongst the top CA firms in the world.

PM Modi said, “People talk of the big 4 accounting firms. Sadly, there is no Indian firm there. By 2022, let us have a big 8, where 4 firms are Indian.”(ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged Chartered Accountant community to work hard and make a place for at least four Indian companies to get listed amongst the top CA firms in the world. Speaking at the syllabus launch event of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), PM Modi said, “People talk of the big 4 accounting firms. Sadly, there is no Indian firm there. By 2022, let us have a big 8, where 4 firms are Indian.” The four firms PM was referring to are – Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Ernst & Young (E&Y), Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). As per an article on accountingverse.com, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, popularly known as just “Deloitte”, is the largest among the big 4 and employs approximately 244,400 employees. The company’s ambit, however, goes beyond providing audit.

The company also advises consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services to clients worldwide. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is the second largest accounting firm in this list. The company employs more than 223,400 professionals in 157 countries around the world. Third in the list is Ernst & Young (E&Y), the company is a global organisation of member firms in more than 150 countries. Fourth in the list is Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG). KPMG employs approximately 189,000 professionals working together to provide quality service in 155 countries around the world. KPMG earned $25.4 billion in 2016.

In a strong message to the CA community, PM Modi pointed out why action has only been taken against just 25 of them for irregularities, while more than 1,400 cases have been pending for many years. “Government has cancelled the registration of over 1 lakh companies in a single stroke and more than 37,000 shell firms have been identified for strong action,” he said. “Your signature is more powerful than that of the Prime Minister and the government also believes the accounts signed by you,” he said addressing the CAs.